In brief: Trucking group wants faster work on speed-limiting devices

April 20, 2015Updated: April 20, 2015 11:27pm

Photo: Ricardo B. Brazziell, MBO

FILE - This Sept. 6, 2012 file photo shows part of a 41-mile stretch of Highway 130 where the posted speed limit is 85 mph, in Austin, Texas. Many tractor-trailers on the nationÂs roads are driven faster than the 75 mph their tires are designed to handle, a practice that has been linked to wrecks and blowouts but has largely escaped the attention of highway officials. (AP Photo/Statesman.com, Ricardo B. Brazziell) AUSTIN CHRONICLE OUT, COMMUNITY IMPACT OUT; INTERNET AND TV MUST CREDIT PHOTOGRAPHER AND STATESMAN.COM; MAGS OUT

FILE - This Sept. 6, 2012 file photo shows part of a 41-mile...

DETROIT - The nation's largest trucking industry group wants the government to get moving on a rule requiring electronic speed-limiting devices on big rigs.

The American Trucking Associations says it opposes speed limits over 65 mph, and it has previously petitioned the government to require speed-limiting devices on trucks. Federal highway safety regulators proposed a regulation in 2011 to require the use of the devices, known as governors. But the measure has been stalled for years in a morass of cost analyses and government reviews.

The statement follows a story by The Associated Press last month revealing that most big truck tires aren't designed to go over 75 mph. Yet 14 states mainly west of the Mississippi River have speed limits of 75 or above. Texas, Wyoming, Utah and South Dakota have limits of 80 or higher.

The association said Monday that it wants speed limits reduced for all vehicles and said the recent trend toward higher state speed limits is "needlessly endangering millions of motorists."

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